Jack's Field Trip
by RisingWinter
Summary: Jack arrives on the world assigned to him for finding his target and runs into a girl with a disposition as sunny as her dress. Bridge between "Summer Snow" and "Lightning Flowers". Contains spoiler for Type-0 and VIII.


Jack stumbled through stars, then through darkness and into the low evening light of a new planet. Gaia II, Queen called this one.

Another Gaia. How many of these were there? Because they only became gods, like, a week ago, and already they'd found a Gaia IX. And where was Queen getting these names? What were they going to do after they broke twenty? Maybe they could name at least one of them after a chocobo from Akademeia.

Jack stuffed his hands in his pockets and whistled while he walked to the first town on his itinerary.

Wearing stained and damaged clothes had him regretting not looking for another outfit in Valhalla, but upon glimpsing his first sight of civilization, he realized these guys wouldn't care too much about that. People milled about in haphazard coverings and robes made of various layers. Soot and grime stained their skin and the buildings about him looked half broken and crumbling.

 _This world suffered through two consecutive catastrophes_ , Queen's slightly-distorted voice said to him. It was just faint enough that she could have stood a few feet off, but when he looked she was nowhere to be seen. _They're rebuilding, but it's a lot to catch up on._

Jack rolled his shoulders back. "Worse than that place you sent Eight to?"

 _… Spira's different._

Jack strolled on through the town. Most didn't give him a second glance – they kept their heads bowed and eyes downcast. "I don't know, man. This looks pretty sucky."

 _Jack, focus. You're here to find Lightning, not save the planet from hardship._

"Easy for you to say, miss Stay-At-Valhalla-And-Order-Everyone-Around."

 _It's not that simple and you know it. One moment, Eight's calling in._

The line of telepathy in his head shorted out for a moment and Jack was left to the smoky streets of a foreign town.

He honestly didn't know why Mwynn wanted so many people at once. But hey, she was a goddess and omnipotent and all that, and Jack was barely a week into his immortalhood. Who was he to ask questions?

He paused and felt the rough cobblestone beneath his worn shoes. It didn't hurt like it used to. It just… felt like uneven rocks.

"Pardon!" A girl barreled right into him.

Jack kept his stance and steadied her with one hand. "Watch where you're going! What's the rush?"

She looked up with a clean face, styled brown hair, and a lightly-worn, yellow dress made of a thick and definitely mechanically-seamed material. Jack blinked.

At the sight of him, she did too.

"World-hopper," they said in sync.

She giggled but Jack didn't get over his surprise so fast. He didn't think he would run into one of these guys so soon. "Where from?" he asked at length.

"I… don't know, actually." The girl grinned in excitement. "I didn't realize my world was different from everyone else's, so I didn't think to find out its name. But I've learned that some people recognize it when I tell them about Ultimecia?"

The name rang a bell – probably one of those people that lived in the dead world that Queen went on about. There were a lot of those names, though. "Cool. I'm from…" From somewhere he probably couldn't go back to – he wondered how Rem and Machina were holding up. "Eh." He waved a hand. "It's not important."

"I'm Selphie," she chimed, taking his hand. Jack startled at the motion and Selphie withdrew. "Sorry! Is that strange?"

"Kinda." He grinned and offered his hand back. "But I can get used to it. I'm Jack."

Selphie smiled back and took it. "So, what're you here for? Maybe we can work together?"

"I'm looking for someone." Jack gestured about them. "What town is this?"

"Salamand. One of the portal points!" She pointed behind him.

Jack followed her finger and saw a brilliant, shining orb behind them that gave off a misty aura. The way he got in. "Oh, a gate!"

"Yeah, whatever you want to call it. I think it needs a key or something to use – you wouldn't happen to know anything about it, would you?"

"You could say that." Jack released her hand and walked forward. The townsfolk about them didn't seem to take much notice of the gate – perhaps it had been here for years of their time already.

"You used it?"

"Yeah, I guess so." He glanced behind him. "But I think they only go one way, and you don't want to see the other end."

"Hum. Maybe not." Selphie traipsed behind, following him through the town. "But I'm still jealous."

Jack grimaced. Even by this grungy town's standards, Valhalla was a dreary sight. His heart surged at the thought of being away for the next week or so. He felt a _click_ in his head and jumped.

 _Hey_ , echoed King's distant voice. _Lightning and Firion are heading your way – it appears luck is on our side this time._

"Who's Firion?"

"What?" asked Selphie at the same time that King replied, _This world's champion, as chosen by Cosmos_. His connection cut out again.

"Never mind." Jack fingered the coins in his pocket that Queen provided, fashioned after this world's currency.

"Hey, wanna help with something?" Selphie gestured away from them. "I've got this thing I'm trying to figure out."

"Sure." Jack followed her down the street. "So, what takes you out this way? Something happen back home you want some space from?"

"Nah." She reminded him of Cinque, given her innocent mannerisms and coy body language. "Just got tired of the same old thing every day. Needed a change of pace, you know?"

"Does that kind of thing happen often, leaving home planets?"

"No, I found some special connections."

Jack hummed. This was one of their code-breakers, then. He was glad Nine wasn't here to pre-emptively rip her throat out. "What kind of special connections?"

"Mages!" Selphie chirped. "They like traveling, apparently, and found some easy ways to get between worlds. I wish I had their talent for fire magic, though… that would make a _lot_ of my missions a _lot_ easier."

"How do they travel between worlds, do you think?"

"Spells!" Selphie whistled. "And incredibly powerful ones. I don't know how they find the mana for it, but they create these portals that distort air and space and create wormholes between planets! For those of us that aren't practiced in magic, though, they showed us paths you can take between worlds. Everywhere has its backdoor entrance, you see! They also said there are spaceships out there capable of traveling faster than light."

Jack suspected if he was still mortal, his head would spin at the thought. Spaceships traveling to pre-industrial worlds, taking paths not meant to be traveled that could glitch out the gates generated by the timeline's defenses, portals that worked through who-knew-what means…

He found himself glad that Queen wasn't listening in, either.

"Jack?" Selphie paused and poked him in the shoulder. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah." He looked to where the gate laid some distance away and felt at the coins Queen provided in his pocket. "It's just a weird, weird galaxy."

"Tell me about it!"

She took him down one last turn and down an alley and stopped in the shadows. Jack blinked and after a moment saw what she was talking about – two bodies, torn and ripped both in skin and clothing, laying like rag dolls tossed to the ground.

And about them sparkled motes in the air, like broken glass that floated about them.

Jack swallowed and cleared his throat. Reached out to Valhalla with the spoken words, "That's a problem."

"Isn't it strange?" Selphie walked about them and Jack felt his skin crawl at her proximity to the soul shards. "I've never seen anything like this before."

King responded with a strained voice, _Phantoma. Take the energy – we can sort it back out later if the dead demand it._ Then cut out again. Jack wondered what was going so wrong that King would betray his aggravation.

"Wait." Jack stepped closer and waved his hand about to catch some of the fragments. They lit up a bright orange on contact with his skin and sent a faint glow through the veins of his wrist. He felt a nauseas surge through his stomach but steeled himself against it.

Weird. He missed that thrill of absorbing phantoma – maybe things changed now that they weren't human anymore?

"We shouldn't be here." Jack absorbed the rest of the fragments and touched Selphie's wrist. She didn't yield anything, so she must have somehow avoided taking the power in. "Let's find somewhere else to settle."

"What?" Selphie pulled away. "Shouldn't we do something about this?"

"Not here." Jack gestured. "We'll find somewhere safe first and arm ourselves later. Best be prepared if there's a murderer about."

"Think these people have invented their version of gunpowder yet?"

"Hm?"

Selphie pulled out a vial. "I think I got my hands on this volatile substance, but I need something to give it some extra _umph_."

Jack looked between her and the vial. "I doubt these guys have gunpowder."

"Aw…"

"Have you tried lighting it yet?"

Selphie shook her head and pocketed the vial. "This is all I have. Once I can get my hands on more, we should be in business."

"You know alcohol is flammable, right?" Jack gestured. "Where's the nearest tavern?"

Selphie perked up. "Why didn't I think of that? Darn, you're right! Let's see what spirits we can get our hands on!"

"And then we just need snippets of rope!"

"Yeah!" Selphie started on her way and Jack followed. "Now we're talking!"

"How many do you want?"

"As many as I can get! Do you have money?"

"Probably not enough."

"Let's spend it all! Except for what we need to rent a room, of course."

He followed her toward the town square. "You blow things up often?"

"Only when I have to." She waved a dismissive hand. "Which isn't often enough."

"Why do you have to, now?"

"Because I gotta protect myself _somehow_. Oh, wait." Selphie stepped outside the tavern and glanced toward a big building nearby. Shouts sounded from that general direction. "What's going on there, I wonder?"

Flickering flames shone against the cobblestone a ways off, close to the shouts. Selphie chewed on her lip and concern twisted her brow.

"Should we interfere, do you think?" Jack asked.

Before Selphie could respond, Queen's voice buzzed back, _Don't worry about it. There's not a whole lot we can do to stabilize the area, and the locals have learned how to keep their heads down when this happens – they'll be safe._

"Let's make these bombs, first." Selphie turned to him. "We'll wanna make some big booms when we go in."

"Or we can keep our distance for now."

"Wait, what?"

Jack stuffed his hands in his pockets. "Might be kinda dangerous, attracting the attention of the whole town like that, you know?"

"Oh." Selphie frowned, disappointed. "Okay."

Jack made his way inside the tavern, where a handful of patrons pressed themselves against a window to watch the commotion from the town square. The bartender just shook his head at them and greeted Jack and Selphie with a, "What'll it be for you two?"

They glanced at each other. "You've been here longer than me," Jack said.

Selphie cringed. "Only for, like, a day. I actually haven't ordered anything before – brought a lot of my own snacks and stuff."

The bartender raised an eyebrow. "We're not _that_ different from the _Glyph_ across town. Perhaps some plain mead with bread?"

"Oh, wait!" Selphie bounced closer. "That's right! I need all the alcohol I can get!"

"You okay, miss?"

"I'm great! How much will this buy?" She slapped some coins on the table and the bartender counted them out.

"Depends on the drink, I'd say. Are you going for the finer stuff or something more low-drawn?"

Selphie glanced at Jack and he shrugged. "Whichever will make a bigger explosion," she said.

"Explosion?" The bartender stroked at his beard. "If you're talking flavors, a mix of gysahl and phoenix should do the trick."

"I don't care about flavor." Selphie leaned forward. "I need _potency._ It needs to _burn_."

"Ah. Something strong for you, then." The bartender cleared his throat and looked under the counter. "Dare I ask what you two are up to?"

"Just checking things out." Selphie turned around as the man poured some white-tinged liquid into a mug. "Maybe saving some oppressed people. Depends on how my day goes."

"Uh huh." The bartender didn't sound convinced, but said nothing further.

Jack whistled to himself and looked about the tavern. Even for such a small town, this place was quiet. Maybe more would come later in the day, but…

Well. This _was_ another world. He couldn't compare it to what he was used to back in Akademeia.

Selphie danced his way. "Got 'em!"

Jack glanced at the small vials of liquid she held between each finger. "Where are you gonna keep those?"

"On my belt!" She gestured to some latches. "Come on! I rented a room so we can prep these for use!"

Jack followed her upstairs, where she gestured for him to open a room toward the end of a long hallway. Once inside, she set down the vials and pulled some cables and twine from her bag.

"Brought your own ingredients." Jack whistled. "Nice."

She grinned and took some tiny scissors to the things. "I never leave anywhere unprepared. If I can't make explosives on the fly, then I may as well be naked."

"Don't like knives or anything?"

"If I have to, I've got these." She pulled two bars from her bag, connected by a chain. "But these are much more effective."

Jack took a seat on one of the two small beds and rested his head against his hands. "You're used to protecting yourself?"

"More than that." Selphie propped herself against the wall and carefully wrapped wires around one of the bottles before pulling out some tape. "I'm a SeeD. I protect myself and other people for a living."

Jack raised an eyebrow. "Like a bodyguard?"

"Kinda. Something between that and an assassin. A soldier, basically."

"That makes two of us." Jack sighed and pulled his legs into a crossed position. "Never knew a life outside the battlefield, myself."

Selphie perked up. "Really?"

Jack closed his eyes. Remembered Cinque's dying breaths at his side. "Yup."

"Help me out – what sound does a man make when he's stabbed in the back? I've been trying to find a way to describe it, but I haven't figured it out."

"He doesn't." Jack opened his eyes again. "Not really. The breath gets knocked from him and he goes silent for a long moment. Well, I guess sometimes they'll make this kind of _gak_ noise. You know."

Selphie licked her lips and slowed her bomb-making. "It's more like a strangled breath, isn't it? Like… you know what it's like when a plump choco chick runs around and it stops to rest? That squeak, except much deeper and stuff."

"Oh, I can see that. Except choco chicks don't gurgle blood from their lungs."

"Yeah, I guess not. But you don't get blood-gurgling if you're careful."

"Who can afford to be careful in a fight?"

"It doesn't become a fight. You sneak up on them during the night, in an isolated place, and do it there. Take all the time you want."

Jack frowned. "That's cheating."

"We didn't deal so much in war." Selphie resumed her craft. "We were precision weapons. Maybe it's different."

"Yeah, we were more of the frantic, flailing type. They only brought us out for the desperate situations."

A knock sounded at the door and Selphie jumped up to respond, though not without sending Jack a confused look.

"Who is it?" he asked when she answered.

"Claire," came a voice from the other side. "And Frioniel, from Altair."

Ah, yes. He was a messenger, now, instead of a soldier. And it appeared that his target came right to his doorstep.


End file.
